Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Susan SontagRead
People don't become inured to what they are shown - if that's the right way to describe what happens - because of the quantity of images dumped on them. It is passivity that dulls feeling. The states described as apathy, moral or emotional anesthesia, are full of feelings; the feelings are rage and frustration.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The constant exposure to imagery can lead to emotional numbness and frustration, rather than indifference.
In this quote, Susan Sontag suggests that people do not simply become indifferent to images due to an overload of visuals; rather, it is a state of passivity that dulls their emotional responses. She implies that what may appear as apathy is actually a complex mix of suppressed emotions, such as rage and frustration, highlighting the depth of human feelings beneath a façade of indifference.
Themes
ImagesPassivityEmotionsApathyFeelingsFrustration
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about media consumption, one might quote Sontag to illustrate how constant exposure to distressing imagery can numb our emotional responses.
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Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
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It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.
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